How to roast spring veggies

Thursday

Jun 1, 2017 at 2:01 AM

Deena Bouknight More Content Now

Caroline Hurley’s blog Taste Love and Nourish teaches readers how to cook whole, fresh foods in a way that preserves nutrition, enhances flavors and releases aromas. A staple of cooking, according to Hurley, is the perfectly roasted vegetable.

Although roasting vegetables is one of the easiest cooking techniques, simply chopping, tossing with oil, sprinkling with salt and sticking in an oven is not quite enough.

Hurley’s Armenian-German mother taught her that there are “key tips” that makes them “crazy delicious.”

She roasts at 400 degrees, uses up to a quarter cup of olive oil for two baking sheets of veggies, sprinkles with a little kosher salt, adds a pinch of fresh ground pepper, then “tosses” with her hands to make sure all are thoroughly coated.

Hurley roasts 15-20 minutes before tossing with a large spatula and then allows 20-30 more minutes until the veggies are “to your liking.”She believes that chopping vegetables all the same size and considering texture are key. Uniformity results in even cooking. And, root vegetables combine well because they have similar textures and will require similar cook times. But throw in some broccoli or green beans to a root vegetable mix and the textures will be varied, and broccoli tends to need a shorter cook time.

Experiment, she suggests.

She tried roasting red cabbage slices and loves them.

Right now, depending on region, asparagus is coming in. This is considered a “thin” vegetable and requires the least amount of roast time, 10-20 minutes, as do late spring/early summer “soft” veggies: zucchini, yellow squash and bell peppers.

Plan for broccoli to take from 15-25 minutes, and root veggies (potatoes, carrots, turnips) to cook 30 to 45 minutes.

Bon Appetit teaches readers to use a baking sheet instead of a casserole dish, which can cause steaming and result in mushiness. And, vegetables will crisp better if there is not overcrowding on the sheet.